Such an absurd claim: "..a little bit of bad would've made Sweet Warrior a whole lot better." It means absolutely nothing. Maybe the reviewer needs to polish up his own writing skills till he can come up with something a little more articulate. I found the CD immediately accessible and full of catchy tunes, and I'm looking forward to hearing Richard Thompson live at the end of the month.

I totally agree with the review of Thompson's latest, though I haven't heard it. The same complaints apply to virtually every recording he's made in the last 20 years. I have seen him live a dozen times, and he's never short of astounding, though best when solo. But his records don't convey his humor, his showmanship, his erudition, and his soulfulness. They just tend to plod along with impressive polish and little guts. Sigh. It's kept him from from achieving much greater (deserved) fame and acclaim - even Rolling Stone doesn't put 20 of his records on their top 100 anymore.

He always talks about how he treats music as a job, spending 8 hours in an office composing his songs, and banging out a record a year. He needs to shake it up. Somebody call Rick Rubin to reinvent the guy...

Neither "Daddy's Gonna Kill Me" nor "Needle and Threat" appear on my copy of Sweet Warrior. This review is so bad its bad.

Not "Daddy's Gonna Kill Me." You can read more about that particular song, and even download it here:

http://www.salon.com/ent/audiofile/2007/03/21/thompson/index.html

Hey...that's an Audiofile archive! Oh the irony.

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www.myspace.com/mumblemusic

Interesting review. But before you criticize his lyrics, get your facts straight. It's not "Daddy's Gonna Kill Me". It's "Dad's Gonna Kill Me". "Dad" as in Baghdad - Slang that Richard picked up from the soldiers on the ground when he toured Iraq. Alters the song's meaning and impact just a bit, wouldn't you agree?